• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Chessington World of Adventures Resort

John said:
I largely suspect this is due to concerns about small children riding with a loose lap bar due to sharing a row with an adult. The mouse that used to operate at Holiday Park had a thick sleeve they could slide over the bar (from the side) to reduce the risk.

That said, with how bad the queues get for it already, it's probably for the best that half the guests aren't allowed on.
Click to expand...
Does it run on reduced capacity most days?

I remember growing up even on busy summer days the queue would always be 0-10 mins for some reason, even when rameses revenge was still operational and drew large crowds. My siblings would be on and off so quickly
 
John said:
I largely suspect this is due to concerns about small children riding with a loose lap bar due to sharing a row with an adult. The mouse that used to operate at Holiday Park had a thick sleeve they could slide over the bar (from the side) to reduce the risk.

That said, with how bad the queues get for it already, it's probably for the best that half the guests aren't allowed on.
Click to expand...

Several of the same type do, including Speedy Bob at Bobbejaan and at least 1 touring mouse.
 
Individual lap bars could sort out the issue with the 1.4m height restriction surely?

In terms of why Rattlesnake gets much bigger queues than it used to in the 90s/00s, it can now only run a maximum of 5 cars whereas it used to be able to run 7.
Also, they can now only put a maximum of 3 adults in each car, whereas in the past they could fill all the seats with whoever was needed.
 
John said:
I largely suspect this is due to concerns about small children riding with a loose lap bar due to sharing a row with an adult. The mouse that used to operate at Holiday Park had a thick sleeve they could slide over the bar (from the side) to reduce the risk.

That said, with how bad the queues get for it already, it's probably for the best that half the guests aren't allowed on.
Click to expand...
Beat me to it. I've seen this on a few mouse coasters. Such a simple a solution..
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
Water ride closed all summer. You just can’t make it up with Merlin sometimes 😂

IMG_1843.jpeg
Click to expand...
Hmm... I debate whether that date is a typo, if that's worst case scenario which could change or whether it is closed all summer.

Doesn't bode well for Tiger Rock long term if closed the whole summer and knowing Merlin, they're more likely to do a GCI Wooden Rollercoaster themed to fire to replace it than get Intamin, Interlink or even Mack to build a like for like flume replacement... 😦

I'm not sure what is less reliable, Tiger Rock or Rumba Rapids 😮
 
Chessington stagnated for many years with no real investment, just relying on mostly older rides. The issue with that is that now most of those rides are at the end of their shelf life and because from about 2001 to 2009, there was next to no investment, we’re seeing multiple rides (which are still their headline attractions) all giving up at once. The cosmetic updates on rides like Tiger Rock, Scorpion, Tomb Blaster, Gruffalo and the elephants, do nothing to hide the fact that the ride hardware is at, or nearing the end of its life cycle.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Chessington stagnated for many years with no real investment, just relying on mostly older rides. The issue with that is that now most of those rides are at the end of their shelf life and because from about 2001 to 2009, there was next to no investment, we’re seeing multiple rides (which are still their headline attractions) all giving up at once. The cosmetic updates on rides like Tiger Rock, Scorpion, Tomb Blaster, Gruffalo and the elephants, do nothing to hide the fact that the ride hardware is at, or nearing the end of its life cycle.
Click to expand...

Same across the whole Merlin portfolio though.
I’m confident the spend is coming, it has to.
Wouldn’t shock me at all to see another £50-£60m spent on each park over the next 5/6 years
 
Jb85 said:
Same across the whole Merlin portfolio though.
I’m confident the spend is coming, it has to.
Wouldn’t shock me at all to see another £50-£60m spent on each park over the next 5/6 years
Click to expand...
Not at all. Chessington’s stagnation happened partly in the late Tussauds years but also in the early Merlin years.

At a time when Thorpe were installing modern rides such as Stealth, Saw and Swarm, and Alton were installing the likes of Mutiny Bay and Thirteen, Chessington were still relying on very old rides like Vampire, Tomb Blaster and Dragon Falls as their headliners, all of which were much older than Thorpe and Alton’s headliners.

In more recent years, the other Merlin parks, especially Thorpe until recently, have slowed right down but they have modern coasters to fall back on all of which still have a good few years of life left in them. Chessington have far more headliner rides from the late 80s/ early 90s and they’ve relied on them far too long. Now that those rides are giving up, Chessington are in a difficult position where their ride availability just looks really poor, and a low capacity B&M shuttle coaster isn’t going to solve many of those issues.
 
I actually think of all the Merlin Parks Chessington is could potentially suffer the most of and when Universal open. They have the same demographic and if you throw in traditional poor ride ops, underinvestment and mediocre events its the park I'd be worried about the most if I was Merlin.
 
Zeock said:
Dragons Fury is currently attaining an average throughput (average of 5) of 232 pph. Unsurprisingly, it is the ride at CWOA with the longest queue at the moment.
Click to expand...
Surprisingly, though, it’s still only got a 45 minute advertised queue. The park can’t be that busy at all if the queue is only 45 minutes at that throughput.

Does that average assume that all cars are filled with 4 riders, or does it consider Chessington’s weight policy and only assume 2 or 3?
 
To keep Chessington relevant until through the 2030s, Vampire will need to get the Nemesis treatment, the Tomb Blaster & Gruff dark rides must get rebuilt too, and Tiger Rock gets replaced by a big roller coaster.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top